My life in Rugby: Steve Boyle – former England, Lions, Gloucester and Moseley lock

The day I was told I’d been selected for the 1983 Lions was probably the happiest and saddest of my life. I heard on the day of my mother’s funeral, it was the Monday after my third – and what turned out to be my last – cap for England.
On returning to the family home I thought I’d better ring work to tell them I’d be back in the next day and the girl who answered started to congratulate me. I didn’t know what she was talking about but she said I was in and it was all over the Press but nobody could get hold of me.
It came out of the blue because I hadn’t been mentioned as a possible tourist. However, Willie John McBride, one of the main selectors, had seen me play a couple of times and liked what he saw.
The Lions tour to New Zealand was amazing and it was the fittest I’ve been but there was some frustration as I didn’t play more than six games. I was competing for the same position with Maurice Colclough who was on his way back from a serious ankle injury.
The selectors were keen to get him as much game time as possible in an attempt to get him up to speed for the first Test and after playing in the first two games I had to wait quite a while to get another chance. At least my golf handicap came down! Later on, I got a bout of food poisoning and it took a while to shake off the after-effects.
Playing for the Lions was far removed from my early rugby days although some of the rituals were not too dissimilar. Football had been my passion, I was a goalkeeper for Gloucester City 2nds, and after a match you’d have a cup of tea and a slice of cake and off you went.
One Saturday our game was called off and I was invited by a mate to play rugby for Old Richians in Gloucester. It was a fairly hard-core induction, on and off the field. I had to drink a pint with a picked egg mixed in followed by a curry. There was no way back after that!
In my late teens, I was picked for Gloucestershire Colts, then Gloucester United and eventually the first team. My first appearance was against Newport at Rodney Parade. I came up against one of the toughest second rows who played in Wales, Lyn Jones, father of former Harlequins prop, Ceri Jones. I saw him a few years ago while walking the dog across a farmer’s field outside Usk. This farmer revved up his truck to see me off and it turned out to be Lyn!
To go on and play 312 games for Gloucester was an absolute privilege. Running out at the old Clock End among the best supporters in the land was a thrill each and every time. Perhaps surprisingly for a lock, I scored 77 tries for them.
It was in the days when you had the short tap penalty moves which normally resulted in me charging towards a ‘weak shoulder’ in defence. You’d probably do yourself a mischief if you attempted that nowadays because you’d meet a steel wall of muscle.
The 1978 John Player Cup final win over Leicester was probably the hardest game I ever played in, incredibly physical. My memory isn’t brilliant but I’m certain I gave the scoring pass to Richard Mogg, and that was the try that won us the game. Four years later, we shared the Cup with Moseley who I joined as my playing days wound down.
I played in 20 to 30 games for Gloucestershire, too, and represented the South West against the All Blacks in 1983/84. I was playing with a good friend of mine, David Trick, and we had a schooner of sherry two hours before kick-off. Perhaps that’s why I gave the scoring pass to John Kirwan with about 15 minutes left! I think we’d both struggle with professionalism!